Monday, July 2, 2012

Buggles & Squeak have been long time devotees of all things Colin Fassnidge (right back to Le Grande Bouffe days!) so when news of the opening of 4fourteen filtered through to us we were counting down the days until opening. We manage to snaffle a lunchtime reservation and one beautiful Friday we make our way to Surry Hills - excited to sample the new fare.

4fourteen is quite a large space and it is decked out in a very urban, but warm, way with lots of exposed brick, beams and timber with a large open kitchen.

We grab a table off to the side so we can people watch, munch on some excellent bread and sip on our Sangria while we peruse the menu.

There are certainly ghosts of Four In Hand in the menu, which is fine by us, but with some new twists. Dishes are designed to share which is a great way to get a sense of the whole menu. We decide to each start with a 'Chicken Wing'. This really is an individual 'two-bite' serve of a crispy chicken wing with one of the smoothest liver parfaits I've had in a long time, with crispy tortilla and quince chutney. This is a delightful multi textured couple of mouthfuls. We easily could have had two of these each. They were delicious.

As not so astute readers will have ascertained from even a casual glance at our blog, any dish that mentions beef, bone marrow and licorice in the same sentence will surely be ordered. At 4fourteen this comes in the dish named Licorice 'Beef and Bone' (for 2). The way this dish is served simply adds to the charm of the dish. It is a feast to behold! The beef is so beautifully soft and flavoursome and combines with the crispy bone marrow bombs, the smoky potato puree and the smattering of root vegetables all amidst the delicious cooking juices. It is a dish designed to warm the heart and works all the better for being shared.

The dish did come with carrots, which we didn't realise earlier, so we had ordered the Orange and Ginger Carrots with cumin and yogurt. They were absolutely delicious. The carrots were chunky and cooked just right.

Desserts do stump us a little... they all sound so good. We decide upon the Bounty and the Donut and Apple.

The Bounty is a very pretty dish and certainly tastes delicious. You cannot go too wrong with a chocolate and coconut combination and this dish certainly delivers on both counts.

I cannot go past much that involves the term 'donut', so i am very keen to try out the Donut and Apple dessert. There are round balls of sugary cinnamony goodness matched with an apple jelly and sauce. The apple sauce tastes like just that - apple sauce, but the jelly has me remembering the childhood chewy 'Toffee Apple' treats in terms of flavour. I enjoy it... but I'm not sure I enjoy the two together.

Service at 4Fourteen is, on the whole, excellent. Our main waitress is very good - knowledgeable and warm, whereas one of the others is quite aloof and a bit too cool for school!

We certainly enjoy our meal at 4fourteen and plan to return very soon. Buggles

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About Us & What We Do

We love food. We don't care if it costs a little or a lot... as long as it is good. We would prefer to pay $50 for a great steak, than $5 for a mediocre one. That's just the way we roll. That said if we can get a great steak for $5 all the better!
We write about food as a labour of love; we enjoy eating & sharing our experiences and hope that our blog inspires others to try out some places they may not have otherwise.